Chris Elsberry: Auriemma: "Maybe we're just not good enough"

Updated 12:16 am, Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Connecticut players, from left, Heather Buck, Caroline Doty, Kiah Stokes, Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and associate head coach Chris Daily watch play late the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Baylor in Hartford, Conn., Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. Baylor won 76-70. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) less

Connecticut players, from left, Heather Buck, Caroline Doty, Kiah Stokes, Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and associate head coach Chris Daily watch play late the second half of an NCAA college basketball game ... more

Connecticut's Kelly Faris (34), Stefanie Dolson, right, and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (23) pressure Baylor's Brittney Griner, center, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., ... more

Photo: Jessica Hill, Associated Press

Chris Elsberry: Auriemma: "Maybe we're just not good enough"

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HARTFORD -- They are not ready, not now and maybe not ever, to win these kinds of big-time pressure games. Notre Dame made that point a stark reality a while back, and on Monday night, Baylor drove that point home with a resounding slap to the backside.

When it comes to beating the average and the above-average teams, the UConn Huskies are one of the best. But recently, when UConn has stood toe-to-toe against the best of the best in women's college basketball, such as the defending NCAA runner-up Irish and the defending national champion Bears, the Huskies find themselves being outworked, outhustled and out-desired.

And against the elite, it's become painfully evident that UConn doesn't have enough scoring from the perimeter. They don't have enough scoring in the low post, either. They don't have enough rebounding. They have too many lapses on defense. They have too many holes and not enough fingers to plug all the leaks.

And now, with the regular season approaching crunch time and the postseason less than a month away, can the Huskies find what's been missing and put the pieces together to challenge for the NCAA title?

Not even Geno Auriemma is sure of that.

"I don't know," said the head coach of the Huskies after Monday's 76-70 loss to the No. 1 Bears. "I mean, obviously, that's the goal. We obviously have to find another reliable scorer from the perimeter other than Kaleena (Mosqueda-Lewis). Bria (Hartley) didn't shoot the ball well tonight and Kelly (Faris) was a little bit hesitant. I think we can take advantage in the next month of Morgan's (Tuck) talents because you're not going to be able to guard her and Stephanie (Dolson) if we play this team again, and you have to hope that in the next month that Breanna Stewart develops into the player that she used to be."

That was part of the problem against Baylor. The Huskies started fast, lost control in the middle and then had to scrap like crazy at the end to get back in the game. But it wasn't enough. Why? Easy enough to see. Just about everyone on the team struggled aside from Mosqueda-Lewis, and unless you're Diana Taurasi or Maya Moore, and Mosqueda-Lewis isn't (not yet, anyway), you're not going to win against the best of the best, Like Baylor.

"Unless we change our attitudes, we're just going to keep getting the same result in big games like this," Mosqueda-Lewis said, speaking about as bluntly as any Husky has in a long time after a loss. "Their (Baylor's) aggression just changed and we didn't respond to it very well.

"Coach keeps telling us that we can't change for a day and think that'll fix everything. You can't change for a week and think that'll fix what will happen in a month. You have to make sure that it's a conscious effort every single day and listen to those who are trying to help you. And until we make that conscious effort in practice every single day, nothing's going to change."

Can they change? Can they find that spark that's been missing in these big games? After that humbling loss to the Bears, there were a lot of shrugged shoulders and vague looks regarding that question.

"It's going to take something inside every individual (to change)," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "Once everyone decides individually that they want to be part of the team ... not even part of the team, everyone wants this team to do great and everyone knows this team can be great, but we all just have to work together every single day."

Added Auriemma: "That's the only way we can go where we want to go come March ... collectively, we have to get smarter and we have to get better."

But after watching Caroline Doty give her teammates 17 minutes of zeros, after watching Stewart play like a deer caught in the headlights and do absolutely nothing, after watching Hartley and Faris vanish for long periods of time and even watching Dolson almost refuse to take the ball into the paint against Griner, the question has to be asked: Do the Huskies have the mindset to out-tough everyone? Especially when the NCAA tournament rolls around?

I wonder ...

"Maybe we're just not good enough," Auriemma said. "Baylor has the best center in the country and they may have the best (point) guard in the country. When I looked at my team (after the game), and I asked them, `Do we have the best center in the country? Do we have the best guard in the country? Do we have the best small forward in the country?' So, we can't win these games individually, we have to win them collectively and tonight, collectively, we weren't good enough."